6/29/09

Friday past was the last day of school in these parts
and kids are off on summer vacation...

I remember such times,
50 years or so ago,
when summer had no horizon:
a time and place as close to heaven
as a young heart might imagine...

Something in a child’s summer joy
comes, I'm sure, a gift from you, O Lord:
a taste of timelessness,
a promise of perpetual play,
a season of sun and unreasoned joy...

Heaven every summer!
Could the source of such a gift
be anything but divine?

But where did they go?
Where did the summers fly, Lord?
And I wonder, I worry:
do I still believe in summer's promise
of pleasure unending, unbending
to calendars clocking each day,
walking away the weeks of warmth?

If I don't believe in summer, Lord,
how will I believe in you or in heaven
where summer's joy surely never ends,
where summer's timeless stillness
calms with peace all other seasons' grief?

I offer you these months,
my heart's July and August days:
come summer with me, Lord;
summer deep down in my soul;
restore my faith in summer’s time,
in rest, in joy, in play, in you...

Summer in my heart, Lord,
and dwell there as if time would never end,
as if the time were child’s time, eternal time
when school is always out and joy is ever in…

Are you thinking about becoming a Catholic?

The best place to start is always one of your local Catholic churches. Drop in some Sunday and see what's going on. Then you might speak to the pastor or someone on the parish staff about how they can help you and respond to your questions.